When the COI came into being in April 1946 it effectively took over the production divisions of the MOI who were organised by media crafts and became the nucleus of the COI. There was an anomaly in the case of the COI Film Division. In addition to the Film Division of the MOI there had existed a separate film making operation, the Crown Film Unit, that had come into being at the commencement of World War 2. It had operated as a separate entity within MOI during the war years. On the break up of MOI no decision had been made about the future of the Crown Film Unit. So in what may be regarded as a fudge by the Civil Service, the Crown Film Unit was put under the control of COI Film Division while remaining a separate entity.
The COI started out with a total staff of some 1,500 together with what was described as “a crisis of morale”. Reporting on the first six months of the operation the Director General Sir Robert Fraser said:
The COI had lost almost all of its wartime leaders….These losses, plus the exodus of many key technicians at lower levels had sapped its powers. Its internal self confidence was shaken by the prolonged anxiety about its future…… Happily, a number of officers of talent had taken the personal decision that they would accept the personal risk of remaining on a ship with its decks awash.
The exact structure of Film Division in 1946 is not clear. However by 1960 the structure had settled down after several years of uncertainty and was to remain in place until around 1990. It seems sensible to use this structure to briefly describe the organisation within which Film Division worked followed by the structure of Film Division itself where the opposing forces of the administrative and the creative were also to be found.
The Director General in 1960 (also then Head of the Government Information Service) was Sir Thomas Fife Clark who had been Churchill's press secretary during the war years. The Department had its own Parliamentary Vote as a non-ministerial common service department. The DG was accountable to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Treasury and Parliament, not to any particular Departmental Minister. In 1960 it wielded rather more clout in Whitehall than in later years.
The overall divisional structure in 1960 is set out below and was probably much the same as that in 1946. It was to remain substantially the same until around 1989/1990. It consisted of a number of media divisions reporting to two Controllers one for the Home Departments (in 1960 Ben Thomas), one for the Overseas Information Services (in 1960 Charles Hadfield). Film Division reported to the Controller Overseas.
The term Home Departments meant all those departments of government except those responsible for the Overseas Information Services who were the Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office.
The Divisions that made up the COI were, in alphabetical order:
Advertising Division: mounting paid for advertising campaigns mainly in the UK but very occasionally overseas. A campaign could include the use of newspaper advertising, posters and paid time television and cinema commercials. When the latter two outlets were used Film Division staff became part of the campaign team with the responsibility for carrying through the production of the television or cinema commercials.
Establishment and Organisation Division: provided overall administrative control including personnel, for the COI
Exhibition Division: mounted exhibitions large and small for all Departments both in the UK and overseas such as the British Pavilions, at the International Expo Exhibitions. Again where films were required as part of an exhibition, Films Division staff became part of the team and took responsibility for the production of the film material as required.
Film and Television Division: responsible for production and distribution of films and television programmes for all departments including the Overseas Television Services programme for the Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office.
Finance Division: controlled income and expenditure for the divisions. It accounted for the Parliamentary Vote and any other financial issues pertaining to the COI.
Photographs Division: responsible for all photographic work on behalf of all departments.
Press Division: organizing on behalf of the Overseas Information Services a substantial supply of press material to Embassies and High Commissions for release to local press. It also organised the distribution of press releases on behalf of Home Departments to all media in the UK.
Radio Division: originally part of Film Division but hived off in 1962 as a separate Division. Its main work was the production and distribution of radio material overseas for the Overseas Information Services. As local radio in the UK came on stream in later years it provided radio news material in the UK.
Reference Division: provided a reference library and enquiry service for internal research purposes, public enquiries and the home and overseas departments.
Tours Division: made arrangements for all government sponsored visits and tours for important overseas visitors
As an indication of the level of COI financial turnover, provision in the financial estimates for the year 1969-70 for COI as a whole was £15,915,000 together with a provision for expenditure through the HM Stationary Office of £1,343,750 a total of £17,258,750 or at 2018 prices £271,208,928. The provision for Film Division in 1969 was £2,342,350 or at 2018 prices £36,808,357.(Book The Central Office of Information Fife Clark )
Management Organisation Structure of COI circa 1963.This structure was largely the same from 1960 through to 1989
Director General ( Sir Thomas Fife Clark)
Controller (Overseas) Controller (Home) (D F Kerr) ( Ben Thomas)
Exhibition Division (E T Swain) Advertising Division (O G Thetford) Film Division (J Bewg) Photographs Division (A H Midgley) Overseas Press Division ( H Watters) Publications Division (R Howarth)) Radio Division (J P Langston) Reference Division (Miss N Chown) Tours Division (R G Biggs
Finance Division Establishment Division G E Iles G Meara